The main window of the south transept depicts St Joseph the Worker (far right, holding a set square) as well as (left to right) St Teresa of Avila, St Anna – mother of the Virgin Mary – and her husband, St Joachim.
The window was installed in 1850, when the church was built, and the inscription at its base shows it was donated by Teresa Wright of ‘Revill’ – more commonly Revell – Grange – who can been seen kneeling at St Teresa’s feet.
The earliest reference to the Revell, Revill or Ryvell family in the Sheffield region is in The Sheffield Court Roll of 1287.
The Revells went on to become the most influential family in the township of Stannington – now part of Sheffield – and remained so until the middle of the 18th Century, despite being persecuted for staunchly maintaining their Catholic faith and practices following Henry VIII’s break with Rome, which launched the Reformation in the 16th century.
By 1744 the last male Revells – Rowland, who was unmarried, and his younger brother Thomas – had both died and Revell Grange was occupied by Thomas’ daughter, Anne, and her husband, Richard Broomhead.
Revell Grange passed to Anne and Richard’s eldest son – another Richard – and in 1841, his youngest child, Theresa, and her husband, Francis Wright inherited the Grange.
It was as Theresa Wright that she donated the South Transept window to St Marie’s and later allowed an old Revell family residence on Nethergate, Stannington to be turned into the Roman Catholic St Mary’s Boarding School.
